Reviving Catholic Culture: Annual May Procession and Crowning

A very important event in the school year was and remains the May Procession.

The month of May is dedicated to devotions in honor of the Mary, the Mother of God.

Traditionally this month culminated with a popular ceremony called the May Procession.

The entire school, in Sunday best, would process through the school and around the lawn and gardens, bearing banners and carrying floral boquets.

Cherished hymns such as "Bring Flowers of the Rarest" and "The Blessed Virgin Mary" would be sung while the students traversed garden, ending at the statue of Mary located on a pedestal. 

Colorful banners and signs would identify the members of different sodalities, and there was good-natured competition as each sodality tried to out sing the others. 

One lucky girl, in her best white dress and wearing her white gloves and chapel veil, would be chosen to place a blessed wreath of roses  on the statue, thereby "crowning" Our Lady Queen of the World.  Other floral tributes to Mary would be laid at her feet. 

The BVM sisters of OLP each year had the mother of May crowning events on Summit Avenue in St. Paul, Minnesota.  A spectacle to behold, that all came to a crashing end already nearly 50 years ago.  Too much was lost in the name of modernization.   

Bring back this tradition in your parishes and schools.  It takes effort and organization.